NRL video refs given power of discretion

Updated
Wed Apr 03 08:06:44 EST 2013

The NRL has made an amendment to its obstruction rule with video referees handed the power to determine the significance of block runners in try-scoring situations.

Obstruction rulings will no longer be a case of black and white for the men in the video referees box, who up until now were forced to deny tries where there was any contact initiated by a block runner into a defender.

It led to farcical situations where teams were being stripped of what appeared legitimate four-pointers where a defender was impeded well away from where the try was being scored - as was the case with the Cooper Cronk no-try in Melbourne's round three win over Canterbury.

Effective from this weekend, if a defender is taken out but would not have been in a position to stop the try being scored, the try will still be awarded.

The move comes following a meeting on Tuesday involving referees boss Daniel Anderson and other members of the competition committee.

NRL general manager of football operations Nathan McGuirk said the rule change was not a green light for block runners to take out defenders.

"Having examined the application of the rule over the opening four rounds we believe an adjustment was necessary to provide a level of discretion for the video referee in the review process," McGuirk said in a statement.

"It ensures that tries that would have been fairly scored will be awarded."

Players and coaches alike were left fuming over the weekend when a series of tries were rejected by the video referee, Wests Tigers skipper Robbie Farah claiming players were being encouraged to take a dive when hit by a decoy runner.